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| Founded | 1992 as ValuJet Airlines Georgia, USA[1] |
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| Commenced operations | October 26, 1993 as ValuJet Airlines[1] | |||
| Hubs | ||||
| Frequent-flyer program | A+ Rewards | |||
| Fleet size | 140 | |||
| Destinations | 70 | |||
| Company slogan | Go. There's nothing stopping you. | |||
| Parent company | Southwest Airlines Co. NYSE: LUV | |||
| Headquarters | Orlando, Florida, USA[2] | |||
| Key people |
List of key people
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| Website | airtran.com | |||
AirTran Airways, a subsidiary of Dallas, Texas-based Southwest Airlines[3], is an American low-cost airline headquartered in Orlando, Florida.[4] AirTran operates over 700 daily flights, primarily in the eastern and midwestern United States.[5] AirTran's principal hubs are Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, where it operates over 180 daily departures, Orlando International Airport, General Mitchell International Airport in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport. AirTran's fleet consists of Boeing 717 aircraft, of which it is the largest operator, and Boeing 737-700 aircraft.
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AirTran Airways traces its roots to the 1992 founding of ValuJet Airlines in Georgia, United States. The founders were airline industry veterans, including an executive group from the former Southern Airways and pilots, mechanics and flight attendants from the defunct Eastern Air Lines.[1]
Created to fill the void at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport after Eastern Air Lines' demise, ValuJet Airlines started with two former Delta Air Lines DC-9 aircraft, and the first commercial flight occurred between Atlanta and Tampa on October 26, 1993. The airline was the first to launch ticket-less travel in 1993.
In early 1994, barely eight months after launching service between Atlanta and three Florida cities, the airline went public by listing its stock on the NASDAQ and trading under the ticker symbol VJET.
In August 1995, the Department of Defense (DoD) rejected ValuJet's bid to fly military personnel citing serious deficiencies in ValuJet's quality assurance procedures and an accident rate 14 times higher than the United States' big airlines.[6]
In late 1995, the airline placed an order with the then McDonnell Douglas Corporation to be the launch customer for the MD-95 aircraft (now known as the Boeing 717). Serving as the launch customer meant the airline would have significant input into the design of the aircraft.
At the end of 1995, ValuJet was named as the top company in the Georgia 100 as published by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, and the airline posted high margins with a $67 million net profit on revenues of $367 million.
The Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) Atlanta field office sent a memo on February 14, 1996, to Washington, D.C., stating that "consideration should be given to the immediate FAR-121 rectification of this airline"--in other words, the FAA wanted ValuJet grounded. ValuJet planes made 15 emergency landings in 1994, 57 in 1995, and 57 from January through May 1996. In February the FAA ordered ValuJet to seek approval before adding any new aircraft or cities to its network, something the industry had not seen since deregulation in 1979. This attempt at removing ValuJet's certification was "lost in the maze at FAA" according to NTSB Chairman Jim Hall.[7]
By this time, ValuJet's accident rate was fourteen times that of legacy carriers. On May 11, 1996, ValuJet suffered its highest-profile incident when its Flight 592, a DC-9 jetliner flying from Miami to Atlanta, plunged into the Florida Everglades, killing all 110 aboard. After the Flight 592 crash, many of ValuJet's other cost-cutting practices came under scrutiny. It had allowed one plane to fly 140 times despite a leaky hydraulic system, and allowed another plane to fly 31 times with a malfunctioning weather radar.[6] The resulting investigation revealed numerous systemic flaws, and on June 17, 1996, ValuJet was grounded by the FAA. On September 26, 1996, ValuJet resumed flying with 15 jets, down from 52 before the crash, after complying with all U.S. Department of Transportation and FAA requirements. On November 4, 1996, ValuJet announced that Joseph Corr, former CEO of Continental Airlines, would become CEO and President of the airline at a time when the airline was in serious trouble. It had lost $55 million since the crash of Flight 592.
After the large amount of negative publicity surrounding the Flight 592 incident, ValuJet suffered serious financial problems. On July 11, 1997, ValuJet announced it would merge with the much smaller Airways Corporation, parent of AirTran Airways. The merged company would retain the AirTran name, although ValuJet was the senior partner and nominal survivor of the merger.[8][9] In November 1997, the company announced it would move its headquarters from Atlanta to Orlando. On November 17, 1997, AirWays Corp. and ValuJet completed their merger, and the tarnished ValuJet name passed into aviation history.
The original AirTran Airways, a Boeing 737 operator with service to/from Orlando, was founded by AirTran Corporation, the holding company of Mesaba Airlines of Minneapolis, Minnesota, operating as a Northwest Airlink carrier with hubs in Minneapolis and Detroit. In 1994, AirTran Holdings purchased a start up 737 operator named Conquest Sun and renamed the airline AirTran Airways. Conquest Sun, similar to ValuJet, was an airline started by former Eastern Air Lines employees. The original AirTran Airways moved its headquarters to Orlando, Florida, and grew to 11 Boeing 737 aircraft serving 24 cities in the East and Midwest providing low-fare leisure travel to Orlando. In 1995, AirTran Airways was spun off by Mesaba and formed its own independent holding company named Airways Corporation.
On July 10, 1997, ValuJet, Inc., the holding company for ValuJet Airlines, Inc., announced plans to acquire Airways Corporation, Inc., the holding company for AirTran Airways, Inc. of Orlando, Florida. The deal was scheduled to close on November 17, 1997.
On September 24, 1997, ValuJet Airlines changed its name to AirTran Airlines. On November 17, 1997, ValuJet, Inc., acquired Airways, Inc., and renamed the holding company, AirTran Holdings, Inc. In the summer of 1998, the two airlines merged onto the same FAA certificate and the AirTran Airways name survived. While the hub remained in Atlanta, the headquarters of the new entity was combined in Orlando, Florida, on January 28, 1998.
In January 1999, a new management team led by Joe Leonard, a veteran of Eastern Air Lines, and Robert L. Fornaro, of US Airways, took the reins at the airline.
On August 15, 2001, the company's stock began trading under the ticker symbol AAI on the New York Stock Exchange.
In October 2003, AirTran began services to Washington, D.C.'s Reagan National Airport, and to San Francisco the following month.
On July 1, 2003, AirTran placed an order for 100 Boeing 737 aircraft.
On January 5, 2004, AirTran's last Douglas DC-9 was retired, leaving it with a fleet of more than 70 Boeing 717s. The first Boeing 737 entered AirTran's fleet in June 2004, ending the service by Ryan.
On May 23, 2006, AirTran accepted one of the last two Boeing 717s delivered in a ceremony with Midwest Airlines, who accepted the other 717.[10]
In 2009, AirTran Airways was the first airline to outfit all of its aircraft with wi-fi service.
In 2004, AirTran sought a major expansion at Chicago-Midway Airport by buying the leases of ATA Airlines' 14 gates. Southwest Airlines made a higher bid for the gates, and AirTran lost the deal.
In December 2006, Air Tran Holdings announced that it had been trying to acquire Midwest Air Group. On August 12, 2007, AirTran announced its attempt to purchase Midwest Airlines had expired, while TPG Capital, in partnership with Northwest Airlines, had entered into an agreement to purchase Midwest Airlines for an amount larger than the AirTran Airways' proposal. However, on August 14, 2007, AirTran increased its offer to the equivalent of $16.25 a share, slightly more than the $16 a share from TPG Capital investors group.[11] However, Midwest announced TPG would increase its offer to $17 per share and a definitive agreement had been reached late on August 16, 2007.[12]
On September 21, 2007, AirTran pilots, represented by the National Pilots Association, rejected the carrier's contract proposal. Two weeks earlier, the pilots voted to dump the union president and vice president.[13]
In November 2007, Robert L. Fornaro took over as CEO, as well as President.[14] Joe Leonard remained Chairman of the Board of Directors until June 2008. Upon his retirement, Fornaro then became Chairman, CEO and President.[15]
On January 1, 2009, AirTran Airways removed nine Muslim passengers, including three children, from a flight and turned them over to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) after one of the men commented to another that they were sitting right next to the engines and wondered aloud where the safest place to sit on the plane was. Although the FBI subsequently cleared the passengers and called the incident a "misunderstanding," AirTran refused to seat the passengers on another flight, forcing them to purchase last minute tickets on another airline that had been secured with the FBI's assistance. A spokesman for AirTran initially defended the airline's actions and said they would not reimburse the passengers for the cost of the new tickets. Although the men had traditional beards and the women headscarves, AirTran denied that their actions were based on the passengers' appearance.[16] The following day, after the incident received widespread media coverage, AirTran reversed its position and issued a public apology, adding that it would reimburse the passengers for the cost of their rebooked tickets.[17]
By 2009 AirTran underwent major expansion in smaller cities such as Yeager Airport (Charleston, WV); Asheville Regional Airport, NC; and Harrisburg International Airport, PA.[18]
On April 6, 2010 AirTran Airways opened its second crew base, at General Mitchell International Airport in Milwaukee, the same day they also announced that Milwaukee is officially their second hub.
On July 27, 2010, AirTran Airways hosted the grand opening of their new System Operations Control (SOC) Center at Orlando International Airport. This 16,000-square-foot (1,500 m2), $6.9 million state-of-the-art command center serves as the 24-hour nerve center for the entire airline with over 700 flights per day. The company employs more than 1,000 Crew Members in Central Florida at several facilities, including its corporate headquarters, the SOC and a maintenance facility in addition to its passengers operations at the airport. After considering putting the SOC Center in Atlanta where AirTran has one of its hubs, the decision was made to expand the facility in Orlando adjacent to AirTran’s headquarters.
On July 17, 2010, AirTran Airways announced plans to open a Crew Base in Orlando International Airport in Orlando, Florida.[19] The base will initially employ 100 pilots, including a chief pilot. Orlando will join Atlanta and Milwaukee. In October 2010, a crew base opened in Orlando International Airport in Orlando, Florida.
As of November 2010, AirTran has grown to serve more than 70 cities coast-to-coast as well as in the Caribbean with more than 700 flights per day and over 8,500 crew members serving nearly 25 million passengers per year.[15]
On September 27, 2010, Southwest Airlines announced it would acquire Orlando-based AirTran Airways for a total cost to Southwest of $1.4 billion. The acquisition would give Southwest a significant presence at many of AirTran’s hubs such as Atlanta (then the largest U.S. city without Southwest service), Milwaukee, WI, and expanded service in Baltimore, MD and Orlando, FL. With the merger, Southwest will now have international service to several leisure destinations such as Cancún, Montego Bay and Aruba. Southwest will integrate AirTran's fleet of Boeing 717s and Boeing 737-700 series aircraft into Southwest Airlines brand and livery. The airlines plan to have the acquisition completed and finalized within the next two years; until then, operations for both carriers will remain as separate airlines.[20][21][22] The deal closed on May 2, 2011 and a single operating certificate for the combined carrier is expected to be achieved March 2, 2012.[23] Integration of employee groups between the two carriers has already begun, with total and complete integration of all employee groups expected to be completed by 2015.
AirTran has adopted a similar approach to employee recruitment as Southwest Airlines with an emphasis on functional skills and relational competence.[24] The airline has clear job specialisation with the expectation of flexibility between jobs as required by day-to-day operational circumstances. AirTran’s training approach involves drawing the link between individual job performance, the airline’s overall financial performance and the importance of achieving high levels of customer service and efficiency.[24]
AirTran Airways serves more than 70 destinations throughout the United States, Mexico and the Caribbean.
| City [25] | Number of gates | Number of Daily Departures |
|---|---|---|
| Atlanta | 31 | 200 |
| Orlando | 8 | 62 |
| Milwaukee | 8 | 57 |
| Baltimore-Washington | 15 | 55 |
| Fort Myers | 4 | 27 |
| Tampa | 3 | 23 |
| Indianapolis | 5 | 20 |
| Boston | 3 | 19 |
| New York, LGA | 2 | 19 |
| Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood | 3 | 17 |
As of December 2011, AirTran has 140 aircraft in its fleet consisting of:[26]
| Aircraft | Total | Orders | Passengers | Notes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| J | Y | Total | ||||
| Boeing 717-200 | 88 | 0 | 12 | 105 | 117 | Launch customer and largest operator Fleet includes first & last Boeing 717 ever built |
| Boeing 737-700 | 52 | 65 | 12 | 125 | 137 | Deliveries: Converted to Southwest Airlines (merger partner) Fitted with blended winglets |
Prior to the Southwest acquisition, AirTran Airways had begun studies to replace the Boeing 717-200 aircraft.[27] "AirTran would like to replace the 717-200 with a 100-120 seater aircraft. Likely replacements for the 717-200 airplane are either the Bombardier C-Series or Embraer E-Jets but the company is not forgetting that Boeing could come out with a comparable aircraft to replace the 717-200" said by John Kirby, AirTran senior director of strategic planning and scheduling.
AirTran Airways was also looking at switching some Boeing 737-700 orders to the Boeing 737-800 series aircraft. The 737-800 is said to have "roughly 164 seats." [27] says John Kirby, AirTran senior director of strategic planning and scheduling.
With Southwest purchasing the airline, the fleet of Boeing 717s will be retained along with the 737s. It is expected that these aircraft will be used on routes too small for the 737 and there has been speculation that the type will eventually replace the small fleet of 737-500s in the Southwest fleet, but no utilization plans have been announced by Southwest as of yet.
AirTran Airways operates under a two-class configuration featuring Business Class and Economy Class. All seats feature live, on-demand XM Satellite Radio, as well as Gogo Inflight Internet. Business class includes rows 1–3 and coach begins with row 10; rows 4–9 are skipped for numbering purposes, and 13 is skipped due to superstition. All Airtran Airways flights are served with a complimentary beverage service and small snack. All complimentary beverages offered are Coca-Cola products, and other beverages including juices, beer, and bottled water can be purchased in-flight.
AirTran's livery is primarily white, with teal on the ventral side. The sections are divided by parallel red and blue stripes, which run horizontal at the front, and start to curve upward at the wings until they reach the top side of the plane at the back of the vertical stabilizer. The nacelles are royal blue, with "airtran.com" written in white Helvetica font. The logo version of "AirTran" is written toward the front on either side in teal above the passenger windows, and the vertical stabilizer is teal with a prominent white cursive "A", just like the beginning of the logo.
AirTran Airways has also created several special livery aircraft. These include an aircraft featuring Elton John and Danica Patrick. AirTran also partnered with the Orlando/Orange County CVB to create a Boeing 717 aircraft emblazoned with a "Say YES to Orlando" logo on each side and a second Boeing 717 saying "Orlando Makes Me Smile," which celebrated AirTran Airways' partnership with the OOCVB to promote travel to the city. The airline also has an aircraft paying tribute to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Orlando.
Several aircraft feature sports-related livery. The teams represented are the Atlanta Falcons, Baltimore Ravens, Indianapolis Colts, Orlando Magic, and Milwaukee Brewers.
On February 12, 2010, AirTran Airways celebrated Little Debbie's 50th anniversary by launching a one-of-a-kind, custom-designed Boeing 717, dubbed Little Debbie 1.
| Flight | Date | Aircraft | Location | Description | Injuries | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fatal | Serious | Minor | |||||
| AirTran Airways 426 Summary |
May 7, 1998 | Douglas DC-9-32 | Calhoun, GA | Flight crew failed to maintain adequate separation from hazardous meteorological conditions. The investigation revealed that the captain had been involved in two other air carrier incidents involving adverse weather conditions. It also revealed that the airline lacked adequate training and guidance regarding hazardous weather interpretation and avoidance, as well as adequate procedures to notify flight attendants about potential turbulence. A flight attendant and a passenger were seriously injured during a turbulence encounter. | 2 | ||
| AirTran Airways 867 Summary |
November 1, 1998 | Boeing 737-200 | Atlanta, GA | Lost control and skidded off of the runway while landing, with main landing gear in a drainage ditch and its empennage extending over the taxiway. The nose gear was folded back into the electrical/electronic compartment and turned 90 degrees from its normal, extended position. The cause was an improperly repaired hydraulic line leak. | 13 | ||
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